Harry Reid-Mitch McConnell relationship hits new low

The once-collegial relationship between Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell has collapsed into a free-for-all of name-calling, finger-pointing and mutual mistrust.

The enmity manifested itself in a private confrontation on the Senate floor last month in which McConnell needled Reid over a super PAC — run by the Senate majority leader’s former aides — that attacked the GOP leader over the Kentucky airwaves.

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“I see your super PAC is up in Kentucky,” McConnell told Reid, according to two sources familiar with the exchange. “Come on down, I hope you spend it all down there.”

Reid’s curt response: I know nothing about super PACs. And the conversation was over.

The tension is growing as McConnell emerges as one of the Democrats’ top targets in 2014 and as the two men collide over an unprecedented change to Senate filibuster rules. The ill will and bitter feelings have never been more intense nor meant more to the Senate, according to close confidants of the two party leaders.

The leaders are clashing because each believes the other is destroying the integrity of the institution, where they have spent nearly 60 collective years and taken similar paths to power.

If Reid deploys the “nuclear option” as early as Tuesday — in which senators would change the filibuster rules by a simple majority instead of 67 votes — gridlock in the Senate could worsen with major budget fights ahead in the fall and a slew of presidential nominees expected to hit the Senate floor in the coming months.

The rules change wouldn’t affect legislation or judicial nominees, but the nuclear option could be repeated by future majorities to further weaken the filibuster.

Since Reid and McConnell began serving together as opposing leaders six years ago, they’ve repeatedly claimed to have a productive and cordial working relationship, despite frequent clashes on the Senate floor. Because of the Senate’s peculiar rules, the two leaders must cooperate in order to get even the most routine business done.

But in recent months, their relationship has broken down over a sheer lack of trust, stemming from McConnell’s suspicion of Reid’s involvement in his 2014 campaign and intensifying as the Nevada Democrat has threatened to change filibuster rules despite McConnell’s furious objections.

McConnell believes Reid is breaching protocol between Senate leaders by getting directly involved in his reelection bid, while Reid thinks McConnell is simply using the spat to bolster his own reelection chances by running against Washington Democrats.

Last Thursday marked the most direct and open personal attacks between the two party bosses. Speaking off the cuff, a furious McConnell warned Reid would go down as the “worst” Senate leader “ever” if he changed filibuster rules by a straight majority vote.

But it was something else that infuriated Reid and his top aides — McConnell’s campaign team later tweeted out a cartoon with a picture of a Reid tombstone bearing the words “Killed the Senate” on it. Reid was taken aback.

“What is sad is how Sen. McConnell has decided to personalize this for his reelection purposes,” said David Krone, the majority leader’s chief of staff. “They obviously disagree on many issues, but I have never heard Sen. Reid speak so personally ill about Sen. McConnell in the fashion that Sen. McConnell has towards Sen. Reid.”

A McConnell spokesman fired back.

“If there’s anyone who’s making this a campaign issue in Kentucky, it’s Sen. Reid,” the spokesman said. “He recruited Sen. McConnell’s opponent, and his super PAC is demonizing the leader as an obstructionist with a quarter-million-dollar ad buy in Kentucky. Sen. Reid has manufactured an issue and is the one that’s making it a campaign issue in Kentucky.”

From McConnell’s perspective, both he and Reid have long been on the same page when it comes to protecting the Senate’s traditions, which have grown more important with the death of fierce institutional defenders like Robert Byrd. During the past two years, Reid had headed off a push by more junior Democrats to dramatically weaken the filibuster, opting instead to cut bipartisan deals with McConnell without invoking the nuclear option. But now, McConnell believes, Reid has gone back on his word.

Indeed, when news leaked that Reid was considering changing the filibuster rules, McConnell confronted Reid about his plans. In a private exchange, McConnell asked Reid directly if he would use the nuclear option, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Reid wouldn’t tell McConnell what he would do, sources say, marking a bit of a role reversal. In private conversations, Reid has long had the habit of fully laying out his line of thinking to McConnell, while the GOP leader often keeps his cards close to his vest, according to insiders privy to those talks.